WWE News: AJ Styles opens up on the reason he left TNA, Dixie Carter's open challenge and more

What’s the story?

On a recent edition of Edge and Christian’s podcast E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness, AJ Styles talked about his run with TNA, his departure from the company, working with Christian (Jay Reso) in TNA and much more.

Styles explained that then-TNA head honcho Dixie Carter had once issued an open challenge to the performers to leave the company if they were unhappy with their jobs. On that note, Styles revealed that he really did consider walking out of TNA at that very moment, but stayed on as Christian didn’t leave the promotion that night.

Additionally, Styles also revealed that he was unhappy with the money being offered to him in TNA, and that disagreement over his pay was the primary reason behind him leaving TNA.

In case you didn’t know…

AJ Styles is perhaps best known by professional wrestling fans for his extensive work in TNA (now-GFW)- a company he stayed with for more than a decade.

Nevertheless, Styles would eventually leave TNA owing to his displeasure with the pay offered to him and perform in several other promotions before landing up in the WWE where the Phenomenal One is one of the top stars today.

The heart of the matter

AJ Styles elucidated on his run in TNA alongside Christian as the latter’s lackey; stating that he and Christian would come up with new goofy things for him to do as Christian’s sidekick. Styles explained that the aforementioned phase of his character really helped him show fans a completely different side of AJ Styles.

Furthermore, Styles opened up on why he left TNA, stating that although he loved doing his job, at the end of the day he has a family to feed. He asserted the fact that he fought tooth and nail to make TNA a good company, but the money that the company earned was abused and wasted by TNA management. He continued that although it was scary to quit a job that he worked for several years, he just had to move on from TNA. He added:

"I was in the TNA bubble for so long that I didn't realize what was out there. I did reach out to WWE to let them know I wasn't under contract with TNA anymore.”